The Bonds We Break (The Four #5)

by Becca Steele

  “Cassius. Fuck,” I cried, arching off the table. My orgasm was sudden and blinding in its intensity, my body shaking against him as he kept up his intense movements, drawing out the pleasure to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore.

  When he raised his head with a wide, satisfied smile on his face, his lips glistening with the evidence of my arousal, I dropped my head back with a groan and closed my eyes.

  There was no way I could look at him and hide the way I felt about him.

  I was so fucked.

  “I’m gonna come all over you.”

  My eyes flew open, and I forgot everything else as he stepped up to me, taking his erect cock in his hand and stroking himself over me. A few short strokes and his cum was hitting my body, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “I…you…”

  I gave up on words.

  He curled his body over mine, and I reached up, running my hands across his strong back and up through his hair as he kissed me. Shifting, he moved so that he was lying on top of me, every inch of me covered by him.

  There was an ominous creak.

  Then a loud crack, and suddenly he was pulling us both backwards, falling to the floor with my body collapsed on top of his.

  We exchanged glances, and I rolled off him, rising to my knees to look back at my dining table.

  My now very broken dining table.

  “Your table…was it from IKEA?” His voice turned up hopefully at the end.

  I turned back to him, shaking my head. “Antique, actually.”

  He winced. “Maybe we can fix it.”

  A smile spread across my face, warmth unfurling in my chest as I took in how worried he seemed. “I never liked that table.” Climbing to my feet, I held out my hand. “You said something about one last fuck, and I don’t think that counted.”

  Heat flashed in his gaze. “Nope, definitely didn’t count.” He reached out lightning fast, swiping my legs out from under me and catching me as I fell, pulling me into his arms. Laying me down on my back, he stared down at me, brushing my hair back from my face. “But this one will.”

  I tugged him down to me, and he took the hint, covering my body with his. Raking my nails down his back, I lifted my head to capture his mouth in a kiss. “Bring it on, Drummond.”

  A teasing smirk curved over his lips, but there was something about it that seemed forced. And the way he took me this time, slow, unhurried, worshipping my body…driving me close to the edge over and over before he finally let me fall…it felt different to the other times.

  It felt like an ending.

  FIFTEEN

  “The summer’s going way too fast.” West flopped back on the grass, flinging his arm over his head. The football we’d been kicking around rolled to a stop at my feet, and I took the chance to drop onto the ground next to my best mate.

  “Yeah.” Staring out at the tree line, I had an idea. “Beach party?”

  “When?” West tilted his head to glance over at me.

  “Dunno. Friday?”

  He nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’m surprised you haven’t planned anything sooner than this, mate. I know how much you love any excuse for a party.”

  “Yeah…well…I haven’t been in the mood for it. You know.” I shrugged. That was changing, now. We were halfway through the summer break already, and before we knew it, we’d be back at uni for our final year—well, West had another year to go. Then we’d be out in the real world, working for a living, and long summer breaks like this would be a distant dream.

  So, yeah. We needed to make the most of it. Right now.

  “Invite as many single girls as possible. I wanna make the most of it.” Flipping onto my stomach, I rested my head on my arms. “This is our last chance. Summer of fun, trademark.”

  “Did you just say ‘trademark’? You can’t trademark that sentence.”

  “I can.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I can.”

  “You can’t.”

  I sat up and grabbed the football and threw it at his head. That was the end of the conversation.

  “Wanna play?” Caiden jogged over to us, followed by Zayde, and started showing off doing keepy-uppies with a smug grin on his face. He knew I was shit at them. Just had to rub it in, didn’t he? I jumped to my feet and swiped the ball from him, running down to the small AstroTurf pitch we had in the garden. I laughed when I heard his shout, but he caught up with me within a few seconds.

  “Fuck you,” he said, grinning. “Two on two. Losers have to man the BBQ later.”

  Returning his grin, I nodded. “Me and Cade against West and Z,” I called over my shoulder.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Winter stared at me over the top of her joint. We’d been relaxing on the deck after our BBQ, although the others had ended up in the hot tub, so Winter and I were the only ones remaining in the seating area.

  “Me? Nothing. Why?” I raised a brow at her, reclining back on my chair. “Pass it over.”

  She handed me the blunt, and I took a long drag, my eyes falling shut.

  “You don’t seem as happy as normal.” Curling her legs under her, she twisted to face me. “Anything you wanna talk about?”

  “Nope.”

  After staring at me intently for way too long, she sat back with a sigh. “Spoken to Jessa lately?”

  “Nope.”

  It was true. I hadn’t, except for sending her a few texts checking in with her. I’d done a drive-by of her apartment block once or twice, and okay, I had West intermittently checking the feeds from the security cameras outside her apartment, but that was because her brother had asked me to keep an eye on her.

  Maybe I also had a feeling…concern for her safety. Littlefinger had seemed almost too easy to get rid of, in my opinion.

  Still, I didn’t miss her or anything. She’d only been staying with us for a short time, and yeah, we’d slept together, but I had the feeling that Winter thought it meant more than it did.

  You’re in denial.

  Shut the fuck up.

  I shook my head with a growl, and Winter stared at me. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, fine.” Rubbing my hand over my face, I sighed. “Sorry, babe. Think I’m just tired.”

  She shuffled closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder. “I love you, you know that, right?”

  “I know.” Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, I slid my arm around her. “Wanna ditch Cade and get with me instead?”

  “I heard that!” came from the hot tub, but there was no anger behind Caiden’s words. Still, I threw up my middle finger just because, and Winter huffed out a laugh.

  “Seriously, though, Cass.” Tilting her head up, she met my eyes. “Don’t hold yourself back because you think you need to act a certain way.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means…” Pausing, she frowned. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, be open to new things. Possibilities. Maybe—” Cutting herself off, she bit her lip. “No. That’s all I wanted to say. I want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy,” I reassured her. “I’m always happy. Most of the time. You know nothing gets me down for long.”

  Taking another long drag of the blunt, she let the smoke curl through the air between us, then passed it over to me. “So, this party. Who’s invited?”

  A smile curved over my lips. “Everyone. It’s gonna be a party to remember.”

  “I’d better come shopping for it with you, then. Someone needs to keep you in check.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “I always am.”

  The following morning, I somehow ended up in the computer room. It was Weston’s domain, and now my sister had taken over part of it, too. Between them, they had a huge bank of monitors and a load of other computer shit. I didn’t even know what half of it was for, and didn’t really want to, but the important thing was that West had connected one of the computers to the security feeds around the Alstone Coll
ege campus. Including the university accommodation where Jessa lived.

  Sliding into Weston’s seat, I woke up the screen and input the password. The mouse cursor hovered over the internet browser icon for a few seconds before I gave in to the inevitable and moved it to the icon for the security feeds. I managed to get sidetracked from my mission by the first feed that popped up, watching a pair of seagulls fighting over what looked like half a hot dog, although it was hard to tell.

  But once they’d flown away, I clicked into the feed of the camera facing Jessa’s apartment building. There was no sign of her, not that I expected there to be, but I checked the feed for the car park, too, spotting her car parked in its usual place.

  I stared at the feed for a while longer before I sat back with a frown. What was I actually doing here?

  “Ready to go party shopping?”

  With the best timing in the world, Winter stuck her head around the door, followed by Kinslee.

  When we were in my SUV, Winter in the front and Kinslee in the back, I cranked up the music, throwing them both a grin. “Let’s do this.”

  “Wait, Lena’s—” Kinslee pointed towards the house, where the front door was wide open. Before I had a chance to respond, Lena came running down the driveway and threw herself into the back next to Kinslee.

  “Can you drop me at Raine’s house on the way?”

  “Do I look like your personal taxi service?” I shook my head, meeting her gaze in the rear-view mirror.

  “Yep.” She gave me a wide smile, and I sighed loudly.

  “I suppose I can go out of my way just this once.”

  I’d been driving for about ten minutes when I realised we were going in the wrong direction. And when a certain Georgian apartment building came into view and my foot automatically eased off the accelerator, slowing us down to a crawl, I groaned under my breath.

  Maybe no one had noticed.

  “Ahem.” My sister gave a loud, fake cough from behind me, and I glared at her in the mirror. Next to her, Kinslee raised a knowing brow, smirking, and I could feel the weight of Winter’s stare boring into the side of my head.

  “Stop it, all three of you.” I spun the wheel, speeding up as I manoeuvred us back onto the main road.

  “We didn’t say anything.” Winter’s voice was far too innocent, and I scratched the side of my face with my middle finger, right where she could see it, which just caused them all to start laughing.

  “Cassius and Jessa, sitting in a tree—”

  “I will throw you out of my fucking car,” I growled at Lena. Meeting Kinslee’s amused gaze, I gave her a hard look. “Don’t even think about saying anything.”

  She clamped her mouth shut, but her eyes were still dancing with amusement. Despite myself, I found a smile appearing on my lips.

  I could handle a bit of harassment from the three of them. When the party came and they saw that I was my usual self, taking my pick of hot, willing women, they’d forget all about teasing me about Jessa.

  Everyone would.

  SIXTEEN

  “I don’t think that was enough.” Stepping back, I studied the bonfire I’d built on the beach with the help of Cade and Z. “Let’s chuck some more on.”

  Zayde sloshed another load of lighter fluid on the logs, and the three of us watched in satisfaction as the flames shot into the air.

  “Speaking of fire, that reminds me.” Cade stepped closer, lowering his voice and running a hand through his dark hair, a frown on his face. “What’s that boarding school your—is it your cousin?—goes to? Went to? That really strict one?”

  “Yeah. Uh. I can’t remember the name. I can ask my dad, though. Why?”

  He sighed. “Roman. My fucking idiot of a cousin. You know he got suspended from his school for arson? Well, now he’s got himself expelled, something to do with flooding the basement classrooms, I think. Not sure. Even my dad couldn’t get him reinstated, so I said I’d ask you about your cousin’s one. They’re not allowed phones or anything, are they?”

  “So the rumours go.” I tried to remember what I’d heard of it. “Don’t think they’re allowed any contact with anyone outside the school during term time.”

  A smirk appeared on his face. “That’ll go down well with Roman.”

  “I’ll get the info from my dad and pass it on.”

  “Cheers, mate.” He flashed me a quick grin before turning back to stare at the fire. “Want a beer?”

  When he was off getting the drinks, I threw myself down on the sand next to Z. “I never thanked you.”

  “For what?” He turned to stare at me, surprised.

  “The whole Creed thing. Y’know. If you weren’t connected to him, things might not have worked out so well for Jessa. For any of us, in fact, if we include all the shit that went down in the past.”

  “You’re thanking me for knowing someone?” One brow raised, just a tiny bit, and I rolled my eyes.

  “You know what I mean. I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”

  “Maybe.” His voice was noncommittal. I sighed. I’d known the guy for years, and sometimes he was just as hard to read as the first day we’d met. Zayde was an impenetrable vault, unless he wanted to let you in. Even then, he only let you see bits and pieces of him.

  Tearing my mind away from the mystery that was Zayde Lowry, I changed the subject. “Did your dad give you the MBA talk?”

  He stared at me blankly. “No. What?”

  “Oh. My dad said that they’re hoping to get us straight into working at Alstone Holdings once our final year at uni is done, but they’re gonna be offering us all the opportunity to do an MBA part-time while we work. You know, add more strings to our bows or whatever the saying is.”

  He turned to stare into the flames. “Once my degree’s finished, I’m done with learning.”

  “Fair enough.”

  We lapsed into silence, both watching the flickering flames, but it was comfortable, knowing that I didn’t have to make conversation, that Z was happy enough to just chill without me needing to fill the silence. It was one of my favourite things about him, if I thought about it.

  Caiden returned with his arms full of beers and dropped to the sand next to Z. “Here. I got us two each. Saves us having to make an extra trip.”

  “Good thing I got my own. “

  I twisted my head to see West standing behind us. Grinning, I thumped the sand next to me in an invitation, and he took it. When he was seated, I uncapped the bottle Cade handed me. “To us. For being the four amazing fuckers that we are.”

  There were snorts of amusement, which I ignored, but everyone joined me, clinking bottles together with a “cheers.”

  I fucking loved my friends.

  Around an hour later, when I found myself scanning the crowded beach for the fiftieth time, I’d had enough. This wasn’t me. I headed over to one of the coolers, swiping another beer, then made my way over to a group of four girls from one of my classes, noting their admiring smiles as I strolled over. After placing my beer on the crate they were balancing their drinks on, I threw my arms around the shoulders of two of the girls. “Ladies. You’re all looking beautiful tonight.”

  Gem, the girl on my left, angled her body into mine, batting her long lashes as she stared up at me. “We’ve missed you since uni finished.”

  “Yeah. We haven’t seen you around for ages.” Su pouted, stepping closer and placing a proprietary hand on my chest. As the four of them crowded around me, I started to panic. Something was wrong.

  Really fucking wrong.

  Four fit as fuck girls were right here, any of whom would probably sleep with me, given the chance. I’d slept with three of the four already, and from the way they were running their hands over me and giving me those looks, it was a sure thing that they’d be interested in a repeat.

  But my dick wasn’t even showing any interest.

  Studying the curves of Gem’s tits, I experimentally slid my hand down onto her ass, and she gave me a su
ltry smile.

  Nothing.

  Not even a twitch.

  My worst nightmare had come true.

  My. Dick. Was. Broken.

  I was pulled out of my spiralling panic by Su tapping my arm with her manicured nails. From the raised brow she was giving me, it wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get my attention.

  “Sorry, babe, what was that?” I flashed her an apologetic grin.

  “I said, I’m surprised she’s here. Did you know she was coming?”

  I followed the line of the other girls’ gazes, looking over the top of their heads.

  Jessa.

  Her gorgeous body was wrapped in a red bikini, her dark hair blowing in the early evening breeze, and she looked so beautiful that I was temporarily stunned.

  No. It wasn’t her beauty that was stunning me.

  It was the realisation that flooded through me the second I saw her. Two realisations, in fact.

  One, my dick most definitely wasn’t broken. Not anymore. And two—which directly related to the first point—when it came to Jessa De Witt?

  I was completely and utterly fucked.

  She stood on the fringes of the group, chewing on her lip the way I knew she did when she was nervous, and I willed her to find her strength. She’d come far from the hollow shell of herself that she’d been for so long, but I guess this was her first test, being surrounded by so many people that she knew, people that had witnessed her fall from grace and the way she’d hidden herself away from everyone.

  Her gaze darted around, wide and worried, and I took a step forwards, to do what, I didn’t know. But then, her eyes met mine.

  “I invited her,” I murmured in reply to Su, holding Jessa’s gaze. A small, hesitant smile curved over her lips, and then I took another step forwards, slipping my arm from around Gem and beckoning her to me.